The Rhinitis Revelation

Laurie Metcalf returns to the show as Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) mother who comes to visit her son for the weekend. The entire episode is basically Sheldon coming to grips with the fact that his mother might rather do tourist activities with Sheldon’s friends than spend her time preparing food for her son or accompanying him to a dry scientific lecture. In Shedlon’s mind this just doesn’t compute.

The best moments of the episode all center around Sheldon’s incredulity at his mother’s behavior and his struggle to deal with his anger and hurt that she’d rather spend time with his friends than bow to his every whim.

Although there are some funny moments, such as the scene in the church which gives us some clever lines by Howard (Simon Helberg), Raj (Kunal Nayyar), and Penny (Kaley Cuoco), there is only so much humor you can squeeze out of a single joke premise. The episode’s obvious conclusion does give us Metcalf performing “Soft Kitty,” but it’s anything but a surprise.

“The Rhinitis Revelation” isn’t a bad episode (although it is probably the weakest in a long while), but it does waste an appearance by Metcalf with a mostly forgettable episode.